Carton



Jan. 21, 1964 H. T. CURTIS 3,118,533

CARTON Filed March 9, 1962 INVENTOR ATTORNEY:

United States Patent Henry T.

This invention relates to a box, or carton, and, more particularly, to an improved triangular box, or carton.

One example of triangular boxes, or cartons, is shown in Ardavanis et al., Patent 1,978,396. This patent dis closes a triangular box, or carton, formed primarily for the purpose of holding a wedge of food such as pie or cake. This prior art device, however, exhibits certain disadvantages. For example, the carton sometimes opens during handling which causes the contents to fall or slide out. A still further disadvantage is that of movement of the wedge of food relative to the interior of the container which often causes the wedge of food to become cracked, or broken, or otherwise unappetizing in appearance.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved box, or carton.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved box, or carton, which obviates the above-mentioned disadvantages.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an improved carton having a locking feature which prevents accidental open'mg of the container.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved carton having a food retaining structure for securing a wedge shaped piece of food against movement within the carton.

Briefly, this novel device is a triangular carton formed from a blank having three side members, each having a flap depending therefrom. One of the flaps has a locking tongue which cooperates with a locking notch on another of the flaps securely to lock the carton after the food is inserted. According to other aspects of this invention, the remaining flap has a tongue depending from the center thereof at an angle securely to retain the food in position within the carton to prevent damage to the food by movement within the carton.

These and various other objects and features of the invention will be more clearly understood from a reading of the detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the carton blank for forming one illustrative embodiment of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view, to a larger scale, of the embodiment of FIGURE 1 in its assembled form; and

FIGURE 3 is a view of FIGURE 2, in elevation, taken in the direction of the arrow 3 except that the side of the box is removed.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, there is shown a carton blank 1% according to one illustrative embodiment of this invention. The blank includes three side members 12, 14, and 16 connected by triangular wedges 18, 20, and 22. In each instance the line between the triangular wedge and the adjacent side members, such as lines 24- and 26 defining wedge 18, is defined by a depressed line in the cardboard, or other material. These lines facilitate folding of the blank into a box shape. The central portion of the blank is removed to define an aperture 28 which may advantageously be covered with a transparent plastic material to permit viewing of the food contained in the carton. A flap depends from each of the side members.

For example, a triangular flap 3i) depends from side'member 16, oval shaped flap 32 depends from side member 14, and a trapezoidal shaped flap 34 depends from side member 12.

Advantageously, a locking tongue 33 defines a terminal portion of flap 32 remote from the side member 14. Locking tongue 38 is partially defined by a notch 40, which notch extends substantially parallel to the long dimension of side member 14. When the blank is assembled, as shown in FIGURE 2, locking tongue 38 engages an edge in slot 42 on triangular shaped flap 3t} positively to lock the container in a closed position in a manner which will be subseqeuntly described.

Wing flaps such as flap 44 on the end of side member 14 and fiaps 46 and 43 on the opposite ends of side member 12 are employed positively to close the corners of the carton to prevent the entry of foreign matter.

ctill another feature of this invention is the tongue 50 which is formed from the flap 34 by a pair of parallel notches 52 and 54 and is intended to define an angle with respect to flap 34 when the tongue 50 is bent along the dotted line 56. This line 56 may be defined by a depressed line similar to that of lines 24- and 26.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIGURE 1 in an assembled form, to a larger scale. In this embodiment, a transparent plastic sheet 58 is shown covering the aperture 28. Although the food retaining tongue 50 is shown defining a substantially right angle with flap 3 from which it depends, it may lean about 30 to contact side member 12 to define a stronger support for the food. The locking tongue 38 is shown in its position of engagement with notch 42 on triangular flap 30. Also, flap 4% is shown in its position adjacent side member 16 and defining, in cooperation with side member 16, a closed corner of the container thereby preventing the entry of foreign matter such as dust or dirt.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, there is depicted, to a reduced scale, a view taken in the direction of arrow 3 of FIGURE 2 except that side 14 has been removed. A piece of pie is shown in dotted line 60 to illustrate how the food retaining fiap 59 may engage the outer crust 62 of the pie and thereby retain the apex, or point, of the pie 64 in close engagement with the side members 14 and 16 and the flap 44. Advantageously, the material from which the blank is made is of sufficient thickness for the food retaining flap to prevent bending of the flap and thereby prevent movement of the food, such as the wedge of pie, relative to the carton 10.

This improved structure, therefore, provides an easily assembled carton for articles of food which will remain in a closed, or locked, position by means of the cooperation of locking tongue 38 and the notch 42. Further, movement of the article of food relative to the assembled carton is prevented by means of the food retaining tongue 50.

While I have shown and described one illustrative embodiment of this invention, it is understood that the concepts thereof could be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

A triangular box for receiving a segmentally shaped article such as a piece of pie comprising a first, a second, and a third side member, a first, a second, and a third connecting member joining the edges of said side members adjacent the ends thereof, a first, a second, and a third 3 flap depending from said first, said second, and said third side members, respectively, said first flap having a locking notch therein, said second flap having a locking tongue depending therefrom and engaging said locking notch, and a pair of parallel notches extending into said third flap to form thereby a bendable tongue, said box in assembled forrn being folded to triangular shape receiving said article, said bendable tongue is folded internally of the box from the bottom at an angle to rest against one side forming a Wedge impinging against and holding the segmentally shaped article against the apex of the triangular 4 shaped box by the force or" weight of the article when placed thereon thereby preventing lateral movement of the article in the box.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,978,396 Ardavanis et al Oct. 30, 1934 1,998,542 Harrell et a1. Apr. 23, 1935 2,220,110 Layton Nov. 5, 1940 2,326,013 Darnrow Aug. 3, 1943 2,937,743 Buttery et a1. May 24, 1960 

